Relationships Articles

Where two people pledge their love for one another in a service that is recognized by law, it is called a wedding; although the traditional marriage ceremony have seen a decline, there are now many other methods to confirm your union. Despite the religious aspect to a marriage, it is still a legal matter; the marriage certificate must be signed at the end of the service for the law to legitimize the couple’s relationship. There are a great many traditions around the world but the terms bride and groom before the couple are married are seemingly universal; after the ceremony they are referred to as husband and wife.

Religious Services

Of course other wedding traditions can be much more complicated as soon as you look into different race, social classes and ethnic groups to name a few. Traditionally the church is the most popular venue, where the ceremony is presided over by a Christian priest. The traditional white wedding as we know it is really only a service that is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and some other Commonwealth countries.

Multiple Services

A rare type of marriage is where two separate couples decide to marry at the same time; typically, a person with a brother or sister might plan this type of occasion with that sibling.

Marriages in Another Country

Destination weddings are becoming more popular and many couples decide to have their wedding and honeymoon in the same place; destination weddings automatically conjure up exotic countries but it could just as easily be a themed wedding in Las Vegas to qualify for that title.

Activity Weddings

A weekend wedding is where couples and their guests celebrate over the course of a weekend. Themed occasions can involve golf, hang-gliding, shooting or any type of venue you can imagine. For many people that have outdoor interests this can be a lot of fun and the guests can stay for the weekend with them to extend the occasion.

Ceremonies Online

Although it has not really caught on yet, a few bold and different people have decided to tie the knot online but it may be sometime before this style of wedding really becomes more popular; internet based specialists are already available to help organize your ceremony. Strangely, if you decide to have your marriage shown online in real time it is called an online wedding.

Town Hall Marriages

A civil wedding is a ceremony presided over by a local civil authority, such as an elected or appointed judge, justice of the peace or the mayor of a locality. For people that elect this type of ceremony it is not important to them if God or religion is referred to in such a brief service. These services often take place in city halls, courthouses and other designated areas of town.

This brief article mainly discusses weddings based around Christian beliefs but the number of religions and cultures around the world means there is much more to learn about this subject.

Alcohol is often a big part of a wedding celebration. However, there are some couples who prefer to have a “dry” wedding reception for either religious or personal reasons. These are some ideas on how to have a festive party without alcohol.

There are a few main reasons why you might prefer to serve no alcohol at your wedding, and it will make some difference in the tone of your reception. If your religion forbids drinking and most of your family and friends are from the same faith, then nobody will bat an eyelash at a wedding without alcohol. However, if you prefer not to serve alcohol due to past difficulties, but most of your family and friends still drink, they may be less than thrilled to find only soft drinks at your reception, and this is something that you will need to plan around.

It is much easier to plan a “dry” reception when most of the guests will be teetotalers. Have your reception at any time of day that you like; anything from the most simple morning ceremony to a full black tie reception with everyone in long gowns and fancy wedding jewelry will work just fine.

On the other hand, a room full of guests who are accustomed to raising a glass to the bride and groom every few minutes may be taken aback at having an alcohol-free party. Of course, you can have any kind of reception that you like whether you serve liquor or not, but you might want to consider having a morning reception when alcohol would be less expected, rather than an evening event when most of your guests will be annoyed at the lack of drinks.

There are all sorts of wonderful non-alcoholic beverages that you can serve to make your reception feel festive. Go all out to with a fun selection of drinks beyond the basic sodas and juices. Sparkling cider makes a terrific substitute for Champagne during the toasts. For a wedding brunch, virgin Bloody Marys and mimosas made with o.j. and the sparkling cider will be a big hit. They can be passed on trays by the waitstaff as guests arrive, served individually by the glass, or served in pretty pitchers on each table.

If you are having more of a theme wedding, you can choose a signature non-alcoholic drink to feature. Let’s say that you are having a tropical themed wedding, with the bride in a flowing gown and beachy wedding jewelry; a virgin strawberry daiquiri would be a delicious treat for guests of all ages. A Tex-Mex style wedding could feature alcohol-free frozen margaritas. At an outdoor wedding, you can set up a refreshment table with large clear glass tubs of fresh squeezed lemonade and iced tea (decaf if you avoid caffeine).

The idea is to make your non-alcoholic beverages just as special and festive as most couples do their cocktails. For a morning reception, a table featuring fresh exotic fruit juices like mango and pomegranate would be a step up from the basic orange and grapefruit juices. A wide selection of flavored sparkling water is another fresh idea that your guests will enjoy.

“Dry” does not have to mean boring. There are many wonderful ways that teetotalers can make their guests feel welcome without serving alcohol. As long as you approach an alcohol-free reception with a spirit of fun, it will be just as enjoyable for your guests as the boozier weddings that they have attended.

In addition to all the other thousand details that you need to keep up with in planning your wedding is insuring that you have a great DJ lined up for your reception. You may think any monkey can play music but keep in mind this will be the entertainer at your reception and also will be interacting with not just you but your guests. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Does the DJ have backup equipment on hand while performing at your reception. Nothing is worse than dead silence at a reception. Be sure the DJ has adequate backup equipment so that if something breaks he can immediately source his backup.

Be sure that he has a good speaking voice. Everyone knows there are tons of announcements to be made at a wedding. Be sure he has a good voice as well as a good wireless microphone and knows how to use it. Be sure you and he agree on the music to be played and how long he will be required to work your reception. Don’t just hire someone and tell them be here at 6. Be sure he fully understands what is expected of him.

Does he give you advice on suggestions for improving the tone and atmosphere of your reception. An experienced DJ knows what works and what doesn’t at a wedding reception as many have done hundreds or thousands. He should be asking the size of the crowd, the median age of the crowd, and should also be getting a feel for the type of atmosphere that you want portrayed at your reception.

As with any vendor be sure that all the financial arrangements are agreed to prior to the engagement. Don’t let a misunderstanding leave you with no entertainment at your wedding. Ideally drop by a prior engagement and see how they handle everything. Dropping by another reception and seeing first hand how they do things will tell you how good they really are. Remember a DJ is like anyone else. They want the engagement and will tend to tell you what you want to hear.

Be sure you and the DJ have a plan in place. Sit down with the DJ prior to the ceremony and you and they go over details such as what he should be doing for the first dance, garter toss, bouquet toss, cake cutting and any other important events that will be taking place during your reception.

Be sure and get his music catalogue so that you can select music to be played. Keep in mind when you do this that several generations of people will likely be there and so select things that will appeal to all the participants. A good DJ can help you greatly with music selection.

As with many things in your wedding, prior planning will make a huge difference in seeing that your wedding is just as you imagined. Do not depend on everyone to know what you want magically. Plan and plan and then plan some more.

To many couples, a wedding can be very expensive. Of course you do not need to spend a lot of money if you are going to host a really simple wedding. You do not need to spend a lot if you are not going to have things such as wedding photography, invitation and reception. However, this is not the case for most couples.

Most couples would like to have a stylish wedding. To this end the wedding will become expensive. A really stylish wedding can cost a couple something like $30,000 or even more. It is quite a large amount of money at the end of the day. As a consequence, you will probably want to save the cost of your wedding while you can still make it stylish.

So the question here is how you can spend less money on each of the wedding items. Generally, you will need to compare the prices before your order. This is the first step. Of course you are also comparing the services at the same time. You will need to spend quite some time to visit various wedding vendors in order to compare the prices. You will also need to visit different online wedding shops so that you can compare the prices thoroughly.

The venue and the food in the reception will usually be the most expensive part in your wedding. Let us talk about the venue first. It can be very expensive if you are going to book a ball room in a luxurious hotel. However, this should not be your only option when the wedding reception hall is considered. You will still have a lot of other options. For example, you can try to find a venue in some country club or golf club. This will usually be a less expensive option. On the other hand, you may also arrange your wedding so that you will not be getting married in peak seasons. And the cost will certainly be lower if you can make such arrangements.

When the food is concerned, you can save cost by considering your menu carefully. As a matter of fact, it is not so difficult to save money on your food. In the most extreme case, you will be able to save a lot of money if you are going to prepare the food yourself. Of course it will not be easy if you are going to host a big wedding. If this is the case, you will still be able to save money if you can bring your own caterer. You may also want to limit the options in your menu so that the cost can be even lower. Remember, the prices will be higher if you offer more options to your guests!

You will also have chances to save money on the wedding photography. It is very true that wedding photography is a must in a wedding. And it is also true that it can be very expensive. One of the ways to save money is to ask your friends to help. You can ask your friends to help you to take the photos. You will be saving a lot if your friends can really help!

Wedding planning truly is an art and that’s why many brides pay someone to organise every last detail, right down to writing the wedding invitations! Some brides even take a year off work to plan their big day! This is pretty extreme and not really necessary, but some brides feel they need this time to alleviate some of the pressure and stress. In fact, wedding planning can be a most enjoyable experience if handled the correct way.

Firstly, you must appreciate that organising a wedding is hard work and needs to be carefully prepared. Buy yourself a book or folder - this will become your bible of all things weddingy for the next year or so. Keep all your ideas, magazine cuttings, deadlines, phone numbers and wedding invitation replies in this, your wedding planning folder.

Once a date has been agreed, you need to get a dress chosen and ordered. It is worth noting that some wedding dresses can take up to 15 months! Now you must make a list of all the things that have to be done for your wedding, for example:

Have wedding cake made and decorated

Send out wedding invitations

Book photographer

Book church

Decide on honeymoon

Order wedding favours

Choose flowers

Take out wedding insurance

Agree on groomsmen and bridesmaids

Decide which items are immediate [e.g. things that need to be prepared in advance, such as ordering the wedding invitations or booking the church]. Then, draw up a 12-month schedule and insert each job into a month. Of course, the more immediate actions will need to be addressed in the first few months, whereas ordering wedding favours may wait until later on.

It would be a good idea to make a copy for your fiance and for your bridal party. Involving others in your wedding planning will make them feel more included as well as taking pressure off yourself. For example, you may put your chief bridesmaid in charge of wedding invitations - ordering them, writing them and sending them out.

Next you should agree a budget. Very few brides actually stick to their budget but you should put some ideas down on paper and try to keep to your original quote as best you can. Include payment deadlines in your schedule so you know which payments are going out of your account each month. This way, you can spread your bills and not be hit all at once.

If you keep up with your schedule and remain organised each month, wedding planning can be great fun - as it should be. By completing small tasks regularly you won’t feel out of control or stressed and everything should fall into place. Good luck!

(c) World of Wedding Favours

Lust

You may be in love with the idea of being married, getting married, planning your wedding and being in love. You can’t get enough of bridal magazines, wedding planning websites, cake tastings and wedding dress shopping. But remember that it’s one day; your marriage is for a lifetime. Don’t be so lustful for the limelight that you lose sight of the fact that your marriage is for a lifetime. Take time to focus on each other and your marriage.

 

Gluttony

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Ask for help. If you can’t afford a wedding planner, then ask your mother, future mother-in-law, your bridesmaids and your girlfriends to help. They may not do everything exactly the way you would have, but you can lighten up and enjoy the end result with appreciation and gratitude.

 

Greed

Having to have it all is impractical, impossible and will turn you into a Bridezilla. Forcing your bridesmaids to buy expensive dresses, picking out the highest-end tux you can find and insisting upon the biggest rock that your fiancé can finance with his credit card will not win you accolades. Pick the top two or three things on which you want to splurge and be more frugal with the others. Also, in regards to greed, be understanding of how much your parents are willing or able to kick in for the wedding. Accept what they give you with grace and gratitude. 

 

Sloth

Don’t let everything go until the last minute, and then blame your vendors that they can’t accommodate you. The best weddings and the most un-stressed brides come from careful planning. Try to get as much done as early in the wedding-planning process as you can.

 

Wrath

If things don’t go as you want them, lighten up. Losing your cool will only reflect poorly on you. Do you want to look back on your wedding day as the joyful remembrance of the day you began your married life or with embarrassment over the hissy fit you threw because the cake was the wrong flavor or the flowers in your bouquet wilted?

 

Envy

Looking through bridal publications is fine, but remember that their job is to sell magazines and make money for their advertisers, so they are going to pull out all the stops. If you start envying every tiara, $10,000 wedding dress and floral centerpiece that you see, you’re going to end up in excessive debt. The desiderata states, “if you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter.” These are wise words to live by when planning your big day.

 

Pride

Pride goeth before the fall, so don’t allow for any arrogance to creep in. Yes, this is your special day and you can even expect to be treated like a princess…to a point. Taking the royal act too far will label you a difficult bride and that’s no fun for anyone. Be kind.

There’s nothing like a well thought out theme to make your wedding celebration completely unique and memorable for a fraction of the cost. A wedding theme should tell your guests something about the two of you as a couple and as individuals because that’s what makes it unique. If you share a love for sports, maybe a sports themed wedding would be right for you. Or maybe you met on the beach, where you would likely want to choose a beach themed wedding.. Once you’ve decided on your wedding theme, you are going to want to make sure all elements of your wedding celebration reflect that singular theme, and that is including the wedding favors and gifts.

If you can’t think of a theme wedding favor idea, one good way for you to start is to think about things that are included in or that reflect the theme. For instance, if you are having an Asian theme wedding, there are great Asian wedding favors available all over the place including the internet that all have Asian designs. Some of these samples include fortune cookies, chopsticks and take-out boxes and there are a lot of beautifully designed favors with these designs at even dollar stores these days. Some of my favorites are a Fortune cookie place-card holder, a silver take-out box that has the names of the couple engraved on it. Here are few other cheap ideas for your different wedding themes:

Winter wonderland:

- Use Christmas icicle decorations for your wedding

- Make centerpieces with silver toned glitter and faux flowers like lilies

- Use cotton baton to create a look of snow wherever you like

- You can use plastic ice sculptures should you choose

These are just some examples. The good news is that no matter what your theme is, you can find wedding favors to match it as long as you think of things that make you think of that theme. If you are having a beach theme wedding, you may want to consider favors with items like shells, fish, sand, and water. Look out for designs with motifs like beach umbrellas, flip-flops because they are easy to add to your theme and they are cheap.

For a really elegant and yet useful beach theme favor, nothing really beats a beautiful silver dolphin-shaped bottle-opener or a shell shaped candle accent when you add it to the festivities. But if that’s beyond your budget, there are some cool and cheap wedding favors that you can use like a shell card holder, a mini beach pail filled with candies etc.

Here are some more great theme wedding favor ideas that you can use: if you’re having a particular flower as your wedding theme, be on the watch for candy-holders, place-card holders, candles, tea-lights and candy that are shaped in that particular flower and so on. If you’re having a wedding during the winter holidays, you may want to check out favors that have bells and holly wreaths or maybe even some birds.

Do you want to get a wedding body, a slim body that you are comfortable with when in that expensive suit or dress? If you have a body that you like you will be confident in yourself on that special day and it will make this day all that much more special. If you want to look good for the wedding then you have come to the right place.

How do you get a wedding body?

Lose weight. It is as simple as that. If you want to get a wedding body than you need to lose weight. This will make you slimmer and allow you fit in a suit or dress that is a few sizes smaller making you feel so much slimmer.

In order to lose weight you need to use a weight loss system. Many misconceptions have led us to believe many wrong ways on how to lose weight such as pre-packaged food or even starvation but this is complete bogus. Weight loss systems are scientifically proven to work and therefore can get you a wedding body without a doubt.

There are many weight loss systems available to you but many of them promise unrealistic results that are impossible. However, there is one weight loss system that works that me and my wife used to get our wedding bodies last year. This system gave us results in just weeks and we were able to lose a lot of weight before our wedding. Looking at the photos from our wedding, I can’t believe how good we looked.

Wedding Planning

Lucky in Love - Lucky in Marriage
777 the Most Popular Wedding Date in Years

Choosing Special Wedding Dates

Since ancient days, in many cultures, brides and grooms chose their wedding date very carefully. Some days have always been preferred over others.

Even today in the USA, certain dates are considered more popular than others. Traditionally Labor Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, the Christmas holiday season and The thanksgiving weekend are chosen most often for wedding celebrations.

This year there is a date that tops all of them. In fact some consider it a phenomenon. This special day is July 7, 2007 or 777.

We have interviewed both, engaged couples who chose this as their wedding date and wedding vendors, professionals and service providers hired by them.

Reasons for Choosing July 7. 2007 as a Wedding Date

Some of the reasons given us by the couples were:

Did you know that the average wedding in the United States now costs more than $28,000? But the interesting thing is that 81 percent of brides spend less than the average amount. That means that some weddings are completely over the top (think Star Jones) while most others are more moderate.

If you’re looking to put together a wedding on a budget, here are some great tips.

The wedding dress typically costs 10-15 percent of the total budget. Buy a new, used, or vintage dress on an online auction site and you’ll save a bundle.

Flowers comprise another 10-15 percent of the budget. But a flower is beautiful in and of itself. It doesn’t need a lot of “dressing up.” Brides planning a wedding on a budget can save a good deal of money on flowers by cutting them fresh and arranging them yourself and with your friends.

For the reception centerpieces, consider re-using your bridal bouquet for the head table and having large bunches of baby’s breath at the guest tables. Or use fruit as a centerpiece on guest tables.

Offer to pay for a photobuff friend’s film in return for shooting the wedding. Another way to embrace the “wisdom of crowds” is to have disposable cameras around for each of the guests to shoot formal and candid shots.

With today’s equipment being so cheap, many of your friends have the tools to shoot your wedding video. Embrace these amateurs - they have the ability to save you a ton of money.

You might think about having the wedding at someone’s home, at a park, or at some other public or cheap location. If you decide to use a restaurant or hotel, engage the catering manager as a discount wedding coordinator.

When deciding on a time for the wedding, you may want to consider the cost of food for the reception. A wedding brunch or lunch is much less expensive than dinner. One couple a couple of years ago had a wedding high tea at 3:00 in the afternoon which they were able to get a friend to cater for less than $10 a head. An afternoon desert reception is the cheapest type of food prep. If you are having a church wedding, think about having the reception in the church hall.

Wedding cakes have got to be the most expensive desert known to man. But here’s some tips for doing the centerpiece of the reception on a budget. Cupcakes are very “in” right now and they’re also easy to make if you want to bake your own wedding cake. If you don’t want the hassle, ask the bakery in your local grocery store if they make cakes. Most do - for half the price of an independent bakery.

Make your own inexpensive favors. You can cook up a batch of divinity fudge and wrap it in tulle, make candles in seashells, or create sachets of lavender. These types of favors are personal, unique, and, most of all, inexpensive

One final tip is when you’re buying goods or services for a wedding, don’t mention that it’s for a wedding! Often, limo services, bakeries, florists, and others, charge a premium for serving weddings because they know most brides will pay it. And, that’s your budget wedding tips.